'Stargate Universe' preview: 'Alliances' change

The Lucian Alliance takes its fight with Homeworld Command to Earth in the latest episode of "Stargate Universe," called "Alliances" (9 p.m. March 21, Syfy), putting Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and Wray (Ming-Na) in grave danger.

The two Destiny crew members use the communication stones to visit Earth, trading places with Sen. Michaels (Kathleen Quinlan) and Dr. Andrew Covel (French Stewart), who want to verify Rush's data about Destiny's "mission."

Brian J. Smith, who plays Lt. Scott, said the high point of the episode for him is how the combative relationship between Greer and Wray changes.

"You start to see them trusting each other a little bit more," he said. "It takes these two characters, who have this great volatile relationship, and forces them to be together and work through a life-threatening situation and see what happens when they make it out to the other side."

"Jamil was fantastic...," he said, "and so was Ming-Na."

Another special aspect of the episode, Brian J. Smith said, was having Kathleen Quinlan and French Stewart as guest stars. Both veteran actors play more pivotal roles than the usual guests on TV shows.

"That is one of my favorite things about the show is that these really great actors want to come play on our playground with us," he said, "and I thought she was fantastic."

As for Stewart, who acted in the original 1994 "Stargate" movie, Smith said, "I was kind of pinching myself when I was working with him."

For those viewers still reeling from the time-tripping "Twin Destinies" episode of last week, "Alliances" offers another "what the?" twist involving the timelines and Earth. I'm not giving it away, but

"I've heard some ideas that had been bounced around about what happened on Earth that are really interesting," he said. "Maybe one day they'll publish a book, an 'SGU' novel. There were some really cool ideas that were a spinoff of that."